CHAPTER 12



CHAPTER 12

HISTORICAL CHANGES IN FILM ART: CONVENTIONS AND CHOICES, TRADITION AND TRENDS

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. People today have difficulty understanding older films primarily because those films

a. operate according to different conventions.

b. are not as visually stunning as modern movies.

c. involve plots that do not appeal to contemporary sensibilities.

d. have in many cases been damaged by time and poor care.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Understand

2. Which of the following was NOT among the earliest early pioneers of film?

a. Étienne-Jules Marey

b. Eadweard Muybridge

c. François Truffaut

d. Jules Marey

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

3. Louis and Auguste Lumière

a. developed a peep-show machine, the Kinetoscope, for exhibiting early short films.

b. analyzed animals’ movements using an early cinema camera of their own invention.

c. held one of the earliest public presentations of films projected on a screen.

d. were assistants to Thomas A. Edison and invented the first film camera.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

4. In modern times, the types of films that most resemble the earliest films are

a. music videos.

b. amateur videos on YouTube.

c. videos shot on cell phones.

d. TV commercials.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Understand

5. Which of the following was NOT one of the earliest feature films?

a. A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès

b. The Great Train Robbery by Edwin S. Porter

c. Rescued by Rover by Lewin Fitzhamon

d. The Black Maria by Thomas Edison

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Remember

6. Which of the following does NOT characterize the American film business in the 1910s and 1920s?

a. Most film companies relocated to California.

b. American companies faced heavy competition from European firms.

c. Smaller film companies merged to form larger ones.

d. The pattern for the next few decades was established.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Understand

7. Which of the following does NOT characterize American filmmaking in the 1910s, as exemplified by Cecil B. De Mille’s The Cheat?

a. Studios used artificial lighting instead of mixed daylight and electric light.

b. Classical continuity had been established, and patterns of narrative were linear.

c. Filmmaking was highly subjective and used distortion of images to represent emotional states.

d. The system of staging, shooting, and editing was developing and becoming standardized.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Understand

8. Which of the following does NOT characterize German Expressionism?

a. emphasis on cinematography and editing

b. distorted, exaggerated shapes

c. All elements of the mise-en-scene interact graphically.

d. Actors wore heavy makeup and moved in unusual ways.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Understand

9. Which of the following factors did NOT contribute to the decline of German Expressionism?

a. increasing competition from foreign films

b. the departure of actors and directors to Hollywood

c. increasingly high film budgets that led to financial problems

d. censorship imposed by the Nazis

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Understand

10. Which of the following is NOT one of the typical characteristics of French Impressionist films?

a. little external action

b. a large cast

c. love triangles were common

d. use of superimposition and rhythmic editing

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Remember

11. The film movement that emphasized bizarre and evocative imagery while attacking traditional notions of causality and coherence was known as

a. Impressionism.

b. Expressionism.

c. Surrealism.

d. Dadaism.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Understand

12. Expressionism, Impressionism, and Surrealism were all finished as film movements by about

a. 1920.

b. 1925.

c. 1930.

d. 1935.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Understand

13. Which of the following was a serious problem faced by the Soviet film industry after the 1917 Revolution?

a. shortages of film equipment and raw stock

b. the shutdown of the State School of Cinema Art

c. the New Economic Policy, which caused the economy to stagnate

d. Lenin’s view that cinema was the least important of the arts

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Remember

14. Directors in the Soviet Montage movement put the greatest emphasis on

a. mise-en-scene.

b. storytelling.

c. cinematography.

d. editing.

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Remember

15. The most important change that occurred in Hollywood during the late 1920s was the

a. development of the studio system.

b. arrival of synchronized sound filmmaking.

c. consolidation of film companies.

d. introduction of color film.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Remember

16. Which of the following statements about the introduction of synchronized sound in the late 1920s is NOT correct?

a. Though The Jazz Singer (1927) is sometimes referred to as the first talkie, Don Juan (1926) had some prerecorded sound.

b. Fierce competition between film companies such as MGM and Warner Bros. delayed the industry-wide adoption of sound.

c. At first, sound actually represented a setback from the silent era, with its rich visual storytelling.

d. Early in the sound era, cameras and microphones could not be moved easily, and this made for static scenes and staging.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Remember

17. One cinematic genre that flourished in the 1930s as a result of recent technological developments in filmmaking was the

a. musical.

b. Western.

c. crime thriller.

d. romantic comedy.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Apply

18. The most significant technological development in film during the 1930s was the

a. introduction of synchronized sound filmmaking.

b. creation of large-scale sets for filming epics.

c. widespread availability of color film stocks.

d. development of dollies and tracking mechanisms.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

19. Citizen Kane (1941) reflects the trend toward a(n) ______ style of cinematography, which developed in the late 1930s.

a. iris in/iris out

b. long-shot

c. rack-focusing

d. deep-focus

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Remember

20. The movement known as Neorealism emerged in ______ after World War II.

a. Italy

b. France

c. Germany

d. Great Britain

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Remember

21. Unlike the Soviet Montage filmmakers of the 1920s, the Italian Neorealists were

a. opponents of Communism and defenders of liberal Western democracy.

b. experienced filmmakers who had studied Hollywood and European film traditions.

c. dedicated to experimentation and innovation in editing.

d. inclined to use highly subjective styles, including distorted imagery.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Remember

22. Which of the following is NOT a typical trait of Italian Neorealism?

a. mixing of professional actors with nonactors

b. loosely constructed narratives with ambiguity and open endings

c. use of the three-point lighting system on location

d. shooting scenes silent and postsynchronizing the sound

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

23. The young directors of the French New Wave

a. were deeply opposed to classical Hollywood cinema.

b. studied under older French filmmakers and worked their way up in the studios.

c. borrowed money to make short films and features using location shooting.

d. formed a filmmaking cooperative, the “Société des Auteurs.”

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

24. Which of the following traits is NOT typical of French New Wave films?

a. casual humor and references to other films

b. many tracking, panning, and handheld camera movements

c. shooting in real buildings using available light

d. frequent criticism of the French government

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Remember

25. Among the major factors that contributed to the decline of the French New Wave in the late 1950s was the

a. spread of television.

b. apathy of the French government.

c. rise of other film traditions.

d. failure to attract an international following.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Remember

26. Which of the following does NOT accurately characterize the state of the American film industry during the period from World War II to about 1970?

a. The rise of television hurt the film industry.

b. Despite challenges, the studio system remained in place.

c. New technologies, such as widescreen and stereophonic sound, appeared.

d. A number of big-budget films failed at the box office.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Understand

27. The kinds of movies that saved Hollywood in the 1970s are known as

a. exploitation films.

b. extravaganzas.

c. independent films.

d. blockbusters.

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Remember

28. A “tentpole” film is one that

a. attracts enormous critical and popular attention.

b. features a large amount of special effects.

c. makes enough money to shelter other, smaller pictures.

d. exerts a wide appeal across demographic boundaries.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

29. Most of the “movie brats” who emerged in the early 1970s had

a. gone to film school, where they studied film traditions.

b. come up through the ranks of the studio system.

c. gone into the business without any knowledge of filmmaking.

d. come out of a strong Surrealist tradition.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Remember

30. Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Picture Show (1972), and a number of works directed by John Cassavetes have in common the fact that they were

a. major box-office successes that rejuvenated a flagging business.

b. anti-blockbusters, featuring ordinary people with ordinary lives.

c. made in an attempt to protest American foreign policy.

d. all shot by cinematographer László Kovács.

Answer: b

Bloom's Level: Understand

31. A major turning point in Hollywood history occurred in 1968 with the

a. dissolution of the studio system.

b. birth of the modern blockbuster.

c. establishment of the film ratings system.

d. advent of the “film brat” movement.

Answer: c

Bloom's Level: Remember

32. Which of the following did NOT contribute to the rise of independent filmmaking in the 1980s?

a. studios’ loss of faith in auteurs’ blockbusters

b. the growth of home video and cable television

c. the low costs involved

d. studios’ decision to invest in independent film.

Answer: d

Bloom's Level: Understand

33. During the 1980s and early 1990s, a great number of innovative directors and films emerged from

a. Hong Kong.

b. Paris.

c. Tokyo.

d. Singapore.

Answer: a

Bloom's Level: Remember

True-False Questions

34. In contrast to traditions, shorter-lived trends in film are known as movements.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

35. Thomas Edison was quick to understand that movies would one day be a big business.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Remember

36. By the late 1910s the Hollywood studio system had come into existence.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

37. The Cabinet of Caligari was a commercial success that helped popularize German Expressionism in the early 1920s.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

38. The French Impressionist filmmakers worked largely within the mainstream commercial film industry.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

39. The most important Surrealist films of the 1920s were made in England.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Remember

40. The Soviet Montage movement emphasized individual personalities by using actors with very distinctive appearances and mannerisms.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Understand

41. Many writers believe that cinema actually benefited from the fact that it emerged as an art form before the development of synchronized sound filmmaking.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Understand

42. The greater levels of light needed for Technicolor, introduced in the 1930s, permitted filmmakers to experiment with deep-focus shots in black and white.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Understand

43. The introduction of sound and color radically changed the classical Hollywood approach to constructing narratives.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Understand

44. Virtually all the Italian Neorealist directors were young film critics who made their first films just after World War II.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Remember

45. French New Wave films continued the experimentation with plot construction begun by the Italian Neorealists.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

46. From the beginning, the French film industry was hostile to the New Wave and eventually contributed to its decline.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Remember

47. American blockbusters in the 1970s included few major established stars.

Answer: True

Bloom's Level: Remember

48. The most famous graduate of the Hong Kong studio system was Bruce Lee.

Answer: False

Bloom's Level: Remember

Essay Questions

49. What does a film movement consist of? Give two specific examples from Film Art, lectures, and films seen in class.

Answer: Answers will vary

Bloom's level: Analyze

50. Cite at least two ways in which [film title] exemplifies the [film history section] movement. Give specific examples from the film and from the discussion of [film movement] in lecture and in Film Art.

Answer: Answers will vary

Bloom's level: Analyze

Instructor info: This question assumes you have shown a film relating to one of the ten sections of Chapter 12. Insert the name of a film, film history section, and film movement.

51. Select any film from the United States produced in the last 25 years and trace the significant influences from previous historical movements or influences from international works.

Answer: Answers will vary

Bloom's level: Evaluate

Instructor info: You may wish to narrow this question to the work of a particular filmmaker or a more recent time period. Consider announcing this question prior to the testing period to allow the student to conduct research.

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